The PIE receives the OLI, TIRS, and ancillary data, merges these data into a mission data stream, identifies the mission data intervals scheduled for collection, performs a lossless compression of the OLI (TIRS data will not be compressed) scheduled intervals using the Rice algorithm (see References), and then sends the compressed OLI data and the uncompressed TIRS data to an on-board solid-state recorder (SSR) capable of storing 3.14 terabits (Tbits) of data. The PIE also identifies those image intervals scheduled for real time transmission to the LDCM Ground Network (LGN) or to international cooperator ground receiving stations, compresses those intervals, and then sends the data to the observatory’s X-band transmitter for a real time down link. The data transmitted to the International Cooperator stations is also copied by the PIE and sent to the on-board SSR for playback to the LGN. Recall that OLI and TIRS collect data coincidently and therefore the mission data streams from the PIE to the SSR or to the X-band transmitter contains both OLI and TIRS data as well as ancillary data.

The USGS policy of free Landsat data distribution is fostering rapid advancements in the capacity and capability to map land cover and land use change (e.g. forest disturbance) over multiple decades on a global scale for climate and carbon research

Free and open data policies are the first step towards community remote sensing and a global earth observation system of systems